By David Provost
Staff Writer
Following mantras of fast food restaurants such as Burger King and certain sects of secular new-wave post-Clinton Christianity: Sewanee offers students a “have it your way” level of dedication to student satisfaction. However, The University of the South doesn’t tend to call it quits at chicken fries and youth group lock-ins. From McClurg Dining Hall menu suggestions to concert and Greek life event venues, Sewanee has been nothing short of genial in catering to student needs and wants.
A particular area the administration has put significant time and energy into is the student housing aspect of our college. Dormitories, married housing and Greek living are only the “tippy-top” of the iceberg. Exploring the glacier cliffs further a la Lemony Snicket overarching novel setting one will find the true standout in Sewanee Student Living: theme houses. It started with The Originals (any VD Diaries fans, let me know if the new season is worth DVR’ing- provodc0@sewanee.com). Not quite as far back to the G-House days, but in recent memory when the newly constructed “townhouses” became living quarters for lovers of crafts, the EMT profession, and putting out fires (or fighting fires, or simply lovers of fire fighters while withholding any adoration for flames themselves).
The creation of these personalized abodes has opened the door wide-open for an array of possibilities. Sewanee students no longer have to settle for subpar, halfway renovated dorms with relative strangers living on their floors. The Writing House, Culinary House, and Business House are bringing forth concepts of student living arrangements that are more like actual homes, dwelling with like-minded neighbors. On living in a themed townhouse, sophomore Tonia Rubin says, “I love scanning my Banner ID card knowing when I walk through the [theme house] door, I am entering a safe and creative atmosphere. I’m pretty sure my key-card works to enter other creative atmospheres too, in case it’s mid-term week and we forgot to go grocery shopping. Awesome.”
EQB wouldn’t be half as Bonum-y as Sewanee has come to know it, if not for the construction of the upcoming Halfway House Theme House. Students whose first, second, and third choices for living arrangements no longer become an option are welcome to send in an application to the halfway house. To quote from a Novel: Push by Sapphire, “a halfway house is halfway between where you are and where your friends are hanging out for the night without telling you.” Sewanee students are encouraged to propose future living space ideas to Student Housing and apply for ones already in development- not to fear comfort! Any and all ideas could be up for consideration. A small group of freshman students on campus are pushing for a House M.D. themed House, simply deemed “House”. On the creation of the fictional medical-procedure inspired house Freshman Jayden Merve says, “This isn’t about just the TV show. This is about health complications Hugh Laurie continues to face after miming a limp for years upon years. And if you don’t know that by now… well, shoot.” In similar suit to Kyle Massey’s Corey in the House, Rev Run’s Run House, and for the lack of making an imperfect metaphor, Channing Tatum’s White House Down, here at Sewanee you are the boss of your house. You and occasionally the lovely Kate Reed.